Omaha daily bee., 1887-10-19
NUMBER 123.
WAITING FOR THE VERDICT.
Sheriff Matson Postpones Work On
the Anarchist Gallows.
THE TALK OF A LABOR EDITOR.
The Condemned Men Feeling Highly
Elatcd Over the Enlistment
of General Butler in
Their Behalf.
SCafYold building Deferred,

CHICAGO, Oct. IS Special Telegram to
the BEE. l-Shcrif Nlatson has not COM
menced to make any preparations for tho
execution of the seven condemned anarchists
and will not do SO until something further is
heard from the United States supreme court.
The anarchists themselves are feeling moro
hopeful now than they have been ut any
time since the decision of the state supreme
court was rendered, They were feeling par
ticularly good to-day on account of the adviccs
they had received from their counsel in tho
case that General Ben Butlerh had undertaken
to join in pressing their case on the attention
of the United States supreme court. They
have now formidable array of counsel to
take charge of their case. Another dispatch
from Washington to-day informed them that
Justice Harlan had agreed to meet their
counsel Thursday morning in reference
to the proposed application for a
writ of error Generals Butler and Pryor
will do the talking before him and Captain
Black and Mr.. Solomon will do the advising.
They profess to be satisfied with Justice
Harlan and say that he is Il pretty square
man and they fully anticipate that he will
issue writ of supersedcas until the whole
case can be argued before the supreme court.
The great point they depend on is their al
legation that the jury law of the state of
Illinois is in direct violation of the constitu-
tou of the United States.
81 have been notified olicially," said
Joseph Buchanan, editor of the Labor En-
quircr, o-day, "that General Butler has con-
sontcd to take hold in the application of the
anarchists for writ of error and super
sedeas before the United States supreme
court, This is not Il r,lmor regard it as
an assured fact Hitherto he has not had
the time TO look into the matter and StuUV
the transcript, but to my certain knowledge
he has examined the transcript and
has taken the case with the strong eXpecta-
tlon of winning. The case is set for Il hear
ing Thursday, or possibly Friday, before
Justice Harlan, who has Chicago in his dis
trict, you know. Harlan's pretty square
| man and think he will recognize the Justice
of giving these men fair trial, no matter
what their opinions may be. The defense
lawyers will then be Butler, Pryor and Ran
dolph Tucker to make the arguments and
| Captain Black and solomon, who will keep
| keep them posted on the record in the case.
Solomon deserves great credit for raising tho
question of the constitutionality of the stat
ute which allows Il man a service as juror in
| IA case where he has declared himself to have
formed an opinion from newspaper accounts.
| 1t is simply rank tyranny to try Il man as
these men were tired, with "a jury of twelve
men, ten of whom have de-
clared themselves .preiudicod, and
| this, too when Balitf Rice said that he had
had charge of the jury list and had selected
the venire with the intention Of forcing the
defense to exhaust their peremptory chal.
| lodges 1t isn't right BY the way, l clipped
| from the papers at the time the expressed
opinion of each of the jurors when they were
| examined, and think just about now would
be good time to print them"
what will be the grounds on which the
| application for "a writ of error and SUPER
sedeas will be arguedin
| ooh, the same old stand. You're familiar
| with it,"
"Do you think stay of execution will be-
| grantedn
"rm pretty sure of it. think majority
| of the United States supreme court would
| vote for Il stay until the matter could be
heard. | must say that the outlook for the
| boys is Il good deal brighter than il has been
| any time before.o
| 81 have no doubt" said General j. B.
| Leake, cXUnited States district attorney,
| when asked by IA reporter if the application
to the United States supreme court for u
| supcrsedeas in the anarchist case would have
| to be made before the full court, it being now
| in regular session, or if one of the justices
could grant it on his own authority, 81 have
no doubt that any justice has fun power
| at any time, whether the court
is in session or not, to supersede
and his superscdc rs will act as a stay of any
| previous order made in the case. In a case
| of this Importance the justice before whom
the application is made might refer the case
to the full court, or he might act on it him
| self. He has full discretion and power in the
| matter. If the application were made before
the full court they might refer it to some one
| justice for action, or they might issue the
supersedeas where the record is so long and
the time before the execution is so short with
out any inquiry into the merits of the case
at all, in order that they might have time to
look into it at leisure. But any justice has at
all times full power to act in the premises.
Should one Judge refuse and application be
made to another, he would be very apt to re-
fuse to hear the application if he knew of the
previous application. They pay that much
respect to each others opinion. But still the
second justice would have power to act, not-
Withstanding the refusal of the first, and
there are cases where it has been done.n